Good show, chaps
When was the last time England was relevant at all in the sporting world? And don’t give us that Lennox Lewis crap. Lennox Lewis was about as British as Evel Knievel. Now Frank Bruno, he was British. How can you tell? Because last time anyone saw him, he was getting his face caved in at the Las Vegas Hilton by Mike Tyson — and was looking thrilled to be there. That’s a classic sign of a British sports superstar; when you’re hailed as a national hero for being just barely good enough to share the same field of play as the real champion, you know you’re descended from that great line of British second bananas that includes Tim Henman, Andy Murray, Alan Minter, and “Lord” Byron DaFoe.

Typically, a British sports superstar also spends his retirement indulging in sexually ambiguous artistic escapades — Bruno became a famous British mime, which, in itself, says something. (Does America even have famous mimes?) Of course, if he’s good-looking enough, the British sports star might just marry a Spice Girl and chase a $250-million-dollar deal to LA, where he’ll spend a couple of injury-plagued years hideously underperforming as the city’s 19th-most-important athlete, wedged somewhere between Reggie Willits and Vlad Radmanovic in the local-sports Q ratings.

So what’s the reason for this anti-British rant? The latest absurd indignity inflicted upon the British rooting public, this one coming via a combination of the abovementioned David Beckham & Co. and the Gatwick Airport police. Because not only did Great Britain suffer a crushing 3-2 defeat to Croatia in the Euro 2008 soccer qualifiers this past week, the Brits further covered themselves in glory by pursuing what looks like an exceptionally overaggressive shoplifting arrest of Croatian Football Federation chief Zorislav Srebric at a Gatwick stationery store shortly before the pivotal contest.

According to news reports, the 67-year-old Srebric stepped just outside of a WH Smith store in Gatwick to shepherd his team through a security checkpoint while carrying a newspaper he hadn’t yet paid for. Police were immediately summoned and the official was dragged — apparently literally kicking and screaming — into a back room for questioning. Although Srebric’s identity was quickly determined, the incident continued on rather unpleasantly. Croatian authorities issued a wry comment via the Hina news agency afterward: “A London policeman thought [Srebric] was trying to avoid paying for the newspaper, which is nonsense. . . . The situation got even more absurd as he was taken to a police station where the situation was clarified, but, due to a lengthy procedure, Srebric had to spend some time there, instead of just several minutes.”

Eventually, all charges were dropped, and the Croats went on to pound Britain in the match, leading to yet another avalanche of self-flagellating wailings emanating from Fleet Street. (WHY ARE THEY ALL BETTER THAN US? screamed the Guardian.) Sad for them, humorous for the rest of us. Go Croatia!

LET GO, METS | August 18, 2010 As difficult as this summer has been for those of us counted among the Red Sox faithful, let's all agree: it would be a hell of a lot worse to be a New York Mets fan right now.